I used to watch her from my kitchen window. She seemed so          as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was          the street from our home and I would often          the kids as they played during breaks.
I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in         as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just            their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but nobody could.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone. She would practice dribbling（运球）and shooting over and over again, sometimes           dark. One day I asked her why she practiced so much. She looked me in eyes and without a moment of         she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is if I get a scholarship. I like basketball. I            that if I were good enough, I would get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My            told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Then she smiled and ran towards the court to repeat the routine.
Well, I had to admit that she was          . I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her school team to victory.
One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her.         I asked what was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply. “I am just too          .” The coaches told her that at 5’5” she would probably          get to play for a top ranked team— much less offered a scholarship — so she should stop dreaming about college.
She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I            her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet.
She           her head from her hands and told me that her father said those           were wrong. They just did not understand the         of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to play for a good college and if she truly wanted a scholarship, nothing could stop her except one thing — her own         . He told her again, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college basketball coach. She was indeed offered a         , and admitted to the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had           of and worked toward for all those years.
It’s true: If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.

A．small B．strong C．tall D．fat

A．in B．along C．beside D．across

A．see B．observe C．notice D．watch

A．terror B．satisfaction C．wonder D．disappointment

A．on B．over C．by D．with

A．until B．in C．after D．before

A．hesitation B．silence C．rest D．relief

A．wondered B．decided C．suspected D．declared

A．Mom B．coach C．Daddy D．teacher

A．determined B．enthusiastic C．optimistic D．smart

A．Quietly B．Secretly C．Impatiently D．Briefly

A．young B．slow C．short D．weak

A．soon B．never C．later D．afterwards

A．recognized B．judged C．sensed D．understood

A．turned B．lowered C．shook D．lifted

A．coaches B．statements C．players D．facts

A．key B．role C．truth D．power

A．performance B．idea C．attitude D．ability

A．reward B．hand C．scholarship D．job

A．talked B．dreamed C．thought D．heard